


I Swear, I Couldn't Tell You (and I Have the Documents to Prove It)

by Marlex7



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis has been keeping a lot from her parents, Darcy Lewis tries to explain everything in one conversation, F/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 14:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5630125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marlex7/pseuds/Marlex7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy arrives home to have a much overdue conversation with her parents, who have no idea what their daughter has been up to since she took an internship in New Mexico. Well, they know she works with Dr. Jane Foster at Stark Industries, but they don't know that she's on a first-name basis with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, shares family dinners with the Avengers and has been getting self-defense lessons from Black Widow. And they most certainly don't know she's dating a certain national icon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Swear, I Couldn't Tell You (and I Have the Documents to Prove It)

**Author's Note:**

> So this one just popped in my head and refused to leave me along until it was written. Turned out a good bit longer than I first thought.

Darcy walked through the front door of her childhood home, her mother motioning her inside while her father carried her suitcase behind. She’d told him she could carry it just fine, but he would hear none of it, so she allowed him to do it and was rewarded by a warm smile that made her feel ten years old again in every good way such a feeling could have. It had definitely been too long since her last visit home.

Despite the potential awkwardness of the coming stay, Darcy had been overjoyed to see her parents waiting for her at the airport and seeing their faces had nearly brought her to tears. Although there was possibly another reason for that, Darcy put those thoughts on hold for the moment. There was plenty of catching up to do before they got to that.

Darcy took a moment to glance around the living room while her father walked by her to take the suitcase to her old room, which she knew from her last visit was more or less how she had left it upon leaving home to attend Culver. Was it really almost nine years ago she’d left with so many dreams and so few actual plans for her future? Well, none of the dreams had included the events of the past five years, but all in all, her life had turned out better than she’d planned, thank you very much.

Lost in thought, Darcy was startled when her mother stepped in front her. Like the house, she hadn’t changed much since Darcy went to college, but she couldn’t help but notice the sprinkling of gray in her hair and there were a few extra wrinkles than she remembered.

“Earth to Darcy,” she said patiently, still smiling broadly. “I was asking if you wanted me to make you a cup of tea.”

“Sorry, mom,” Darcy said, “just taking in the house. You guys really haven’t changed much at all, ‘cept for the new TV.” She let her gaze fall on the fancy widescreen television, which looked a bit out of place surrounded by her mother’s collection of knick knacks and family photos showing Darcy, her two sisters and their parents at various moments during their childhood. “I’ll pass on the tea. A glass of water would be great though. I’m trying to cut down on caffeine.”

Her mother gave her a careful look but didn’t say anything before returning to the kitchen. Still, Darcy knew she couldn’t put off the conversation she’d been dreading. It was the true reason for her visit, but she’d hoped to wait until after dinner and maybe even dessert. The guys back at the tower loved her pies, but they’d never tasted her mother’s, and aside from her parents themselves, the thing she missed most about home was her mother’s cooking, especially her desserts. Hopefully pie was still in her future when they got done talking, but she knew waiting wouldn’t make it any better.

“Well, you’re all settled in,” her father said upon his return.

“Thanks dad,” she replied. As with her mother, her father looked a little older than she remembered, but he was still the same man who would play football with her and her sisters in the backyard or set up his telescope so she could look at the moon or Mars when the sky was right.

Darcy was broken again from her thoughts by the arrival of her mother a moment later, carrying a tray with two cups of tea, a glass of water and a plate of homemade cookies, which she set on the coffee table in front of the couch. Darcy sat in the middle of the couch with a parent on either side, which felt both comforting and a bit claustrophobic considering the circumstances.

Darcy had always gotten along well with her parents, who seemed to straddle the fence between freedom and discipline while she was growing up. Aside from the usual outbursts during her teen years, Darcy felt like she could talk to them about her problems and her triumphs as well. At least until New Mexico and SHIELD’s non-disclosure agreements, in triplicate.

So much had changed in her life since the day they ran over Thor in Jane’s van, and her parents knew almost none of it. Well, she knew, that was about to change too.

Trying her best to ignore her parent’s gazes, Darcy reached for her water with one hand and a cookie in the other, silently munching away while she tried in vain to get her thoughts together. She’d been practicing this for days and Steve had been incredibly helpful, even after she told him she needed to do this by herself.

“Well, honey,” her mother began. “Not that we don’t love your visits, but you did say on the phone that you had some things you needed to talk to us about. We do try not to worry about you in the big city, but the way you said it, well, it sounded kind of serious.”

Bless her mother. Darcy knew both of her parents had probably created all kind of terrible scenarios about why their daughter had flown five hours to talk.

“Yeah, I didn’t mean for you guys to worry,” Darcy said, setting her glass back on the tray. “It’s just that I didn’t want to do this over the phone. You have been so good to me and I’m the person I am because you. I’ve always felt like I could talk to you and you wouldn’t judge me. Which has made these last few years pretty hard at times, because there were things I couldn’t tell you. And when I say I couldn’t tell you, I mean I have the documents to prove it. After that it more for your safety than anything, but with SHIELD gone, there’s no reason to keep it from you. And with recent developments, it’s time.”

Darcy realized she was beginning to ramble and stopped herself, only to find both her parents were looking at her as if she’d grown a second head.

Finally, her father cleared his throat and said, “Honey, if that was your attempt to stop us from worrying, I hate to say it, but you failed spectacularly.”

Darcy played back her words and nearly groaned. “I really did try to plan this out. I’m sorry. Let me start at the beginning.”

“That would probably help,” her mother said. From anyone else, Darcy would have sensed sarcasm, but that just wasn’t how she was built. No, Darcy definitely inherited her sarcasm from her father.

Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “Okay, so you know I had that internship in New Mexico with Dr. Jane Foster?” she asked carefully.

“Of course dear,” her mother said patiently.

“And I ended up getting a full-time job with her and now I’m her assistant at Stark Industries in New York,” Darcy continued.

“Yes,” her mother answers again. “And she’s dating that guy from...I forget which country, but somewhere in Scandinavia.”

“Well…” Darcy said, trying to remember exactly which lie she had told her mother after she saw a photo of the three of them she’d accidently left in the collection she’d brought home one Christmas. Thankfully Thor was looking away at the time the photo was taken so you couldn’t see his face clear enough to recognize, but she’d let it slip that he was Jane’s boyfriend.

Her father cleared his throat again. “You know Darcy, if you’re trying to tell us that you and Jane are together, we don’t have a problem with that. You should know us better than that.”

“What?” Darcy nearly squeaked and felt her brain shut off. It took a few seconds, but she finally found her voice again. “Jane and me? Oh, no. No! Not that Jane isn’t cute as hell when she’s not neck deep in science, but no.”

It took a moment to regain her train of thought after that question, but she finally righted herself.

“So anyways, Jane and I are super science pals. Not dating.” She took another deep breath. “Back to New Mexico. Internship. Jane. You see, Jane had this theory about Einstein-Rosen Bridges, which are just fancy words for wormholes like in Star Trek. Sounds crazy I know, but it’s not. We were out looking for readings one night when I, I might we, well, I may have been driving but Jane had her foot on the accelerator and we sort of hit somebody.”

“What?” her mother exclaimed.

“It’s fine. He was fine. Well, mostly fine, but that wasn’t our fault. Anyway. He was, well, he was…” It was only one word, but after nearly five years of keeping secrets from her parents, it was hard to suddenly say it.

Darcy breathed in and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the growing concern on her parents faces. “He was Thor. We hit Thor with our van.” It was only after she said it that she realized she was shouting.

“The Avenger? The Norse god?” her mother asked.

“Yeah,” Darcy said, although her answer sounded more like a question. “It was Thor. And he’s not really a god, just an alien and kind of immortal.” Now that the floodgates were opened by her first admission, Darcy pushed forward with her story, only pausing for second at the thought that she could casually say the words just an alien. “And I sort of shocked him with my taser, but he was acting really weird at time so that wasn’t really my fault either.”

“Your taser worked on Thor?” her mother asked. “I need to get one of those.”

“Yeah, well, he didn’t have his powers at the time. He had been banished from Asgard for nearly starting a war with the ice giants. Then his brother Loki took over Asgard--”

This time she was interrupted by her father. “The same Loki who attacked New York City?”

“Yeah, but this was like a year or so before that. So anyway, Loki sent this giant robot thing called a Destroyer to Puente Antiguo to kill Thor. Just before that Thor’s friends showed up and they ended up fighting against the Destroyer while Jane, Dr. Selvig and I helped people get out of its way.”

“You were in the middle of it?” her mother asked, sounding horrified.

Memories of that day flooded into her and she could still feel the waves of heated air washing over her with each blast from the Destroyer. She wasn’t about to tell her parents, but it had taken weeks for the nightmares to finally subside. She still got them occasionally, especially when Steve was gone on long missions. Sometimes she dreamed of Greenwich as well, but like Puente Antiguo, they didn’t happen as often anymore.

“Yeah,” Darcy said finally. “Couple of scratches, but I was fine. We all were. Except for Thor. He got hurt pretty bad. We thought he was dead. But then his power came back and he got mew-mew back--”

“Mew mew?” her father asked.

“Thor’s hammer. I know it’s not the real name, but Thor thinks it’s funny so I keep calling it that. He even got me this keychain.” She reached for her purse and showed them the tiny metal Mjolnir attached to the strap. She didn’t actually have keys to put it on since she didn’t have her own car in New York and all of the doors in the tower used either key cards or biometrics.

“Thor gave you a keychain?” This time it was her mother.

Realizing she was getting ahead of herself again, Darcy said, “Yeah. I’ll get to that. But before you ask, no I’m not dating Thor. He’s dating Jane.”

“So Thor got mew-mew back and kicked the Destroyer’s ass. Then he and his friends went back to Asgard. We didn’t find out until later, but the fight between Thor and Loki destroyed the Bifröst Bridge, which is how Thor and his buddies travel between the nine realms. That’s why he didn’t come back until New York. And believe you me, Jane was mighty ticked that he didn’t give her a call.”

“How did it not make the news that an entire town was destroyed by an...alien.robot?” her mother asked, her voice wavering between disbelief and confusion, with a little bit of anger seeping in at the end as she added, “And Darcy, you were caught in some kind of intergalactic sibling rivalry and nearly got killed and you never told us?”

“That wasn't my fault,” Darcy said. “It was SHIELD. They swooped in and stole all of Jane’s research, and my iPod thank you very much. After Thor left, they promised to return all of Jane’s stuff if she would help them research the Bifröst Bridge. They made us sign non-disclosure agreements and said if we told anybody, including our families, we would go to jail and everyone we told would do so too.”

Darcy couldn’t tell if her mother was pacified by her explanation or even more angry at the idea that her daughter had been threatened with jail time by a government agency. She guessed it was both.

“After that, things were pretty normal, at least as normal as anything can be around Jane when she’s sciencing. Jane’s deal with SHIELD meant I got a paid position as her intern, and we went traveling the globe looking for wormholes. After Dr. Selvig disappeared while working for SHIELD, Darcy cut ties with them, but found enough funding to keep me on. She was really pissed when she found out SHIELD was behind our trip to Iceland, which was really just a way to get her out of the way when Loki returned to attack New York. I have to say though, I didn’t really mind not being in the middle of things that. Greenwich was bad enough.”

“Greenwich?” her father said. “You mean when those aliens attacked and Thor saved the day?”

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” her mother added, nearly draining the rest of her tea in one gulp.

“We were there because Dr. Selvig had found something interesting but when we arrived, we couldn’t find him. Turned out he was still loopy after being brainwashed by Loki. Anyway, Jane got infected by this ancient alien...stuff...and then Thor returned and brought her back to Asgard to fix her, but the Dark Elves--not making that up, by the way, that’s what they’re called--attacked. They killed Thor’s mom and a bunch of other people and Thor, Jane and Loki went after them.”

“Loki helped them?” her mother asked.

“Yeah. Seemed he wanted revenge for their mother’s death, so he joined them to go after the Dark Elves. They managed to get the ancient stuff out of Jane, but Loki was killed and the Dark Elves escaped and started attacking Earth. There was this convergence between the nine realms and if they used the ancient stuff at just the right time, well...bye-bye universe.

“It turned out that Dr. Selvig had already figured out the the convergence was on its way and created these devices to stop it. They looked like giant tent stakes. Thor and Jane got back and we all went out to stop the end of the universe. While Thor fought the Dark Elves and Jane controlled the devices to create portals to help him, Ian and I set them up.

“And yay, we won. So, yeah, mom and dad, your daughter saved the universe. Maybe you can use that next time Mrs. Campello talks about how Stacey made it through med school while I ‘settled’ on a political science degree. I should get you a bumper sticker, ‘My daughter saved the universe.’ Not that I’m bragging, but hey, even Iron Man or Captain America haven’t saved the entire universe yet.” Her mention of Steve brought back other, fresher memories, and she lost her train of thought.

Her parents, for their part, seemed lost for words too, and an awkward silence began to stretch through the room.

“Ian, was that the boy you were dating for awhile?” her mother asked.

“Seriously mom? I tell you I helped save the universe and you ask about my dating life?” Darcy tried to be upset at her mother. She knew she wasn’t one of those kinds of mothers, but still, it hurt a little.

“I’m sorry Darcy,” her mother said. “I don’t mean to discount what you did. It’s just a lot to take in here. I’m just grasping for something I can understand.”

Darcy had to admit that what her mother said made sense to a point. Unfortunately, Ian was a sore subject with her. They did date for a while after Greenwich, long enough at least for her to mention him to her parents. He had been a safe subject to talk about in the wake of Dark Elves and interdimensional convergences.

Darcy let out a sigh. “Yeah, Ian and I dated for awhile. Turns out saving the universe together can create a decent connection.” She paused again, another wave of bad memories roaring to attention. “Unfortunately, Ian was a SHIELD spy.”

Her father leaned forward, indignant anger on his face while her mother gasped.

“Soon after Greenwich, Tony Stark showed up and offered Jane a position with his company with free rein to do whatever she wanted and a nearly unlimited budget. The offer extended to Dr. Selvig, myself and Ian, and we were all set to make the move to New York. Tony was working to set up Avengers Tower at the time, so Thor was going to join us as well. Not that he was going to leave Jane’s side after finally getting back together. Anyway, Tony’s background check turned up Ian’s connection to SHIELD and, one particularly nasty fight later, Ian was sporting a black eye and sent packing.”

“I’m so sorry honey,” her mother said. “He sounded like a nice boy. I had wondered why you two broke up.”

“Yeah, well, it could have been worse,” Darcy said. “We found out later that Ian was actually HYDRA. He’s in some detention center in Europe now.”

Her parents were once again speechless, so Darcy took advantage to return to happier subjects.

“So we set up shop in the tower. I got my own apartment inside the building and I was helping Jane with her research. With Thor’s insight into Asgardian technology, we made a lot of breakthroughs, but a lot of it was still because of Jane’s big science brain. It turns out, however, I caught the eye of Pepper Potts.”

“The Pepper Potts?” asked her mother, who had seemingly found her voice again.

“The very one,” Darcy answered. “She offered me a promotion to help manage additional labs, including Tony’s, when he would allow it of course.”

“Tony? You’re on a first-name basis with Tony Stark, billionaire?”

“Yeah, we’re kind of science bros now. And no, I’m not dating Tony Stark. He and Pepper are super cutesy together when they’re not in the public eye.

“After my promotion, I started overseeing more and more scientists. Turns out I have a knack for it. Dr. Selvig, once he got better, received his own lab. And when Bruce got back, I started helping him too.”

“Bruce?” her father asked.

“Bruce Banner,” Darcy said. “Oh, well, this is still kind of a secret, so you can’t tell anybody, okay?”

Both her parents nodded.

“He’s the Hulk.”

“What?” her mother nearly shouted. “Is it even safe to have him in the building let alone working in same room as him?”

“Yeah, mom,” Darcy said. “We take precautions of course, but Bruce has much better control of it that he used to. Otherwise we would never come to movie nights or family dinners.”

“Family dinners?” her father asked.

“Oh yeah, I was getting there anyway. So Tony was trying to get all of the Avengers together in the tower. Sort of a private collection of superheroes. And it actually worked. Well, SHIELD falling helped, because Hawkeye and Black Widow didn’t have anywhere else to go. Steve, I mean Captain America, showed up later, but he had some personal issues to deal with at the time.

“Once enough of them had moved in, however, Tony started organizing ‘team-building events,’ including movie nights and shared dinners, which usually consisted of take out, although I’ve given them more than a few tastes of your recipes, mom. You’re sort of a celebrity among the group through your cooking. I was first invited along because I was BFFs with Jane and Thor’s “lightning sister”--that’s what he calls me because of the whole taser thing. At that time it was just Tony, Pepper, Bruce, Thor, Jane and me. But then Clint--that’s Hawkeye--and Natasha--Black Widow--showed up and we all sort of bonded, so I’m just one of the gang now.”

“Just one of the gang?” her father asked, as if this might be one revelation too far. “With the Avengers?”

On Darcy’s part, she hoped not, because she still had a few doozies left. “Yeah,” she answered, once again forming more like a question.

“So you’re saying Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, along with the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, know I exist?” her mother asked. “And it’s because my daughter has cooked for them and hangs out with them on a regular basis?”

“Pretty much,” Darcy said. “Clint, he’s a big fan of your spaghetti sauce. Every time I make it I have to guard the pot so he doesn’t steal a spoonful before it’s ready. He’s a trained spy, you know, so it’s never easy. But Natasha knows most of his techniques and stands guard on spaghetti nights. She’s also been teaching me some self-defense skills, and that’s been cool. We’re on a bit of a break for now, though.”

“You’re getting self-defense lessons from Black Widow?” her father asked.

“Yeah, she kind of insisted,” Darcy said. “Not to freak you guys out, but hanging out with the Avengers does come with some...risks. That’s why I didn’t tell you about this, even after SHIELD fell. I didn’t want to put you guys in danger.”

“Remember that part about you not making us worry?” her father said. “You’re starting to fail again.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want that either,” Darcy said. “Sure, living and working around the Avengers comes with a bit of risk, but if anything does happen, I have some of the strongest people on the planet right there to protect me.”

“Well that makes sense,” her mother admittedly, although it sounded to Darcy like she was doing it reluctantly.

“So, do you know Captain America?” her father asked suddenly.

Darcy knew the question was coming. Her father, a history professor, had written his master’s thesis on Captain America and his impact on post-war patriotism. Steve had looked both honored and a bit embarrassed when Darcy had told him shortly after they met and he started joining them for movie nights.

“Actually I do, dad,” Darcy said aloud. “I told him about your thesis. I even gave him a copy to read. He enjoyed it.”

If Darcy’s mother had been pleased about the positive reviews of her family recipes, her father looked ecstatic. “Really?” he asked.

“Yeah. Steve especially liked the part about how you connected it to the build-up to Korea.”

Her father laughed. “Steve. My daughter called Captain America Steve. What’s he like? I mean out of the uniform.”

Darcy was pretty sure he kept her face neutral--thank you Natasha!--at her father’s unintentional comment, but it was a close one.

“Steve is a great guy,” she said carefully. “Everything you’d expect from the image, but he’s so more than that. He’s got a wicked sense of humor but he’s also kind and really sweet when he wants to be, which is most of the time.”

Her mother smiled at her. “So does my daughter have a crush on Captain America?”

This time she couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Funny thing that. So you know how I said I wasn’t dating Jane, or Thor, or Tony?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Steve and I have been dating for almost two years.”

“What?” her mother shouted. “Two years and you never told us?”

“I couldn’t,” Darcy said, although now that she was sitting in front of them, she heard how lame that sounded. And by the looks on her parents’ faces, they heard it too. 

“Look, I’m really, really sorry. For his part, Steve wanted me to tell you. But to do that, I would have to tell you everything, and it seemed too much had already happened that I didn’t tell you about. It wasn’t fair to you guys. And I’m sorry. I really was worried about your safety. We’ve managed to keep our relationship out of the press, but I don’t think that’s going to last.”

“Oh god,” her father groaned. “And I said…” He stopped, unable to to finish.

And then her mother was laughing. “Now that’s hilarious!” she said. “Out of his uniform.”

Her mother laughed even harder and her father just groaned again. It took a couple of minutes until she could contain herself, all the while Darcy remained silent awaiting the eventual blowup.

Fortunately, it didn’t come. “Darcy, I do have to say I’m disappointed you didn’t feel you could trust us with this information before now.”

“That wasn’t--” Darcy started but her mother held up a hand to cut her off.

“Whatever the reason, I reserve the right to be upset about it. That being said, I can’t say I’m upset about how my daughter has been living her life. From what I’ve heard, you have a fulfilling job, a wonderful place to live filled with wonderful friends, and a nice guy to boot. And that doesn’t even get into the saving the whole damn universe bit.”

“Thanks mom,” Darcy said. “And again, I’m sorry.” She turned to her father. “Are we okay?”

“Like your mother, I’m not too happy about being kept in the dark about so much of my daughter’s life, but I can understand, at least in part, about why you did,” he said.

“Thanks, daddy,” she said, leaning over to give her a hug. She then did the same with her mother.

“So, any other bombshells you want to drop on your poor parents before I start dinner?” her mother asked.

Darcy gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, about that. Now I didn’t keep this from you because we just found out a few weeks ago.” She paused, giving both her parents a nervous glance. “But how do you feel about becoming grandparents?”

Darcy and her parents did eventually eat dinner, but it was take out. Darcy did, however, get a slice of her mother’s blueberry pie for dessert.

**Author's Note:**

> There might be sequel down the road when we see Darcy's parents visit Avengers Tower, but I have no idea when, or if, it will arrive.


End file.
